Week 0 – On your mark, get set…

Well, it’s that time again. Time for this blog to see some increased activity. Yep, it’s time to start posting weekly Wilds updates. (If you don’t believe me, go back through the archives of this blog and you will see that the majority of its posts are Wilds updates).

This is starting out to be a very busy summer (or maybe I’m just blocking out how busy previous summers were 😛 ). On that note, thank you very much for your prayers and support this summer. As always, if anything is going to be accomplished this summer it will only be through God’s grace. I’m very thankful the Lord has allowed me the privilege of ministering here at THE WILDS for a fifth summer. I will be serving in the same position as I did last year. My official title is (Junior Boot Camp) Sound Engineer, but like last year besides the associated duties of lights and video, I will also be involved with pretty much every aspect of the program here at Junior Boot Camp (JBC) from skits, refereeing games, and a new responsibility this year – running the Wilds of THE WILDS Bug Show. More on that (and probably some other things) in a future update…

Although we just finished Staff Training Week, the first week that all the staff are on the campsite, as some of you know I’ve been at camp now for over 3 weeks. I joined the “May Staff” for the first time this summer, a group of (probably crazy) individuals who find taking a break after school an optional activity, and instead help out wherever they can in order to get everything ready for summer on the campsite. I spent several hectic days getting all the audio and lighting equipment ready for the summer. Some of the things my boss and I did include inspecting all the speakers on the campsite (over 200 of them), conducting a capital expense inventory of the sound and lighting equipment as well as a media inventory, rewiring the dining hall sound system, hanging the lights for funtime in the Activity Center, a lot of cleaning, and more. Oh and of course, this was during senior trips, so we had to run those services as well.

Well, after an action packed week and a half (of mostly 14+ hr workdays), I had planned to head home for week before returning for the summer. So I’m cruising along up I-26 and all of a sudden instead of cruising uphill, I’m rolling uphill in the far lane from the shoulder. The Lord’s protection was very evident as I had to push my car off the road without any traffic incident, the only traffic was one car who pulled over to offer me a hand. They ended up being a family on their way back to PA after picking up their daughter from BJU. Of all the people who could have been on the highway that morning, God arranged for the person that stopped to help was someone with whom I had some connection and some implicit trust. So not only was the Lord’s protection evident, but also his provision. With their help and that of my insurance company, I got my car towed to a transmission shop in Asheville, which is back towards camp. They initially told me it wouldn’t be fixed until the following Monday, which pretty much scrapped my plans for heading home, as I would only be able to be there 3 days. The Wilds picked me up (the staff were on the way back from taking the seniors white-water rafting) and I figured that was it. But God’s provision didn’t end there. The transmission shop was able to get my car fixed and back on the road in less than 36 hrs, so with a 48 hour delay, I continued on my way home to spend some time with my family. In all, it was an awesome display of God’s care and concern, even before camp started. When I think about all the things that could have taken place (kind of breakdown, amount of traffic, distance from camp, who stopped, where taken, time to fix, etc.) there is no doubt in my mind that God was in control of every detail. I’m ready to see how else God will work this summer!

Staff Training Week, as I said earlier was very busy, and included its share of “why does this have to happen now” kind of moments, including our key lights that are used for our JBC funtime/game show needing to be repaired/replaced. But God is in control of these things as well, and with a little more work after church tonight and tomorrow morning, we should be all ready for camp to start.

The services this week have been excellent. We’ve heard from Tom Farrell, Ken Collier, Matt Herbster, Scott Ashmore, and of course, Doc Hay. It was evident the Lord was working in the services as the staff got things right with Him. Following the final service on Friday, we have a split guys/girls testimony time which was very encouraging as we shared what God has been doing in our lives this week. A recurring theme was our sense of inability and inadequacy for the task that lies before us this summer, but that’s right where God wants us. Please pray that as the tasks become routine, that this sense of dependency will remain.

Here are a couple of other things you can pray for this summer. As I mentioned earlier, I will have several tasks besides just those pertaining to the technical side of things. Please pray that I would be depend on the Lord to keep those various tasks in proper balance and not try to do them in my own strength as I am prone to do. Please also pray for our sound crew as we try to serve one another and the campers with the proper spirit.

Well, all the activity starts in less than 24 hours! The teens will be hearing from Tom Farrell this week and here at JBC we’ll be enjoying the ministry of Mr. “Big Bob” Roberts, who is the director of Kids 4 Truth as well on program staff here at JBC. I’ve been enjoying a study of Hebrews so far this summer, and I’m taking as my theme for the summer one of the major themes of that book, Christ’s supremacy, or in junior language, “Jesus is better…” Please pray that I would be able to show to those to whom I minister this summer that Jesus is better than anything else we try to replace Him with. Thanks again for your prayers and support!